thepunktheory
Written on Sep 3, 2023
Wow. What a finale.
Remember when I kept complaining that Jordan’s novels weren’t going anywhere, that things were moving at a glacial pace? Interestingly, this last book in the series also only covers the span of a few days – the entirety of the last battle – but it never feels boring. Mind you, this book is almost a thousand pages long! I was really surprised how much of a contrast reading this was to Jordan’s final novels. We get to follow the events that unfold almost in real-time (well, close to it) while accompanying the characters we’ve grown fond of in the past 14 novels on their battlefields.
The final battle isn’t fought on just one front which means we jump between several different sites of confrontation with everybody making the last stand while Rand, the Dragon Reborn battles the Dark One over the fate of all of humanity. Considering that this is essentially close to 1,000 pages of nothing but war, fighting, and skirmishes, you’d expect things to get boring at some point. However, not once did I feel my interest wane nor did I want to put down the novel.
In fact, quite contrary to what I thought might happen, I almost couldn’t put the book down and felt like I was reading it at an incredible speed (especially when compared to how long it took me to finish some of the earlier books). Sanderson really is a gifted writer as he manages to convey what the battle feels like on so many levels. He incorporates not just the fighting but also the planning, the strategizing, the struggle with supplies, with fatigue, with coordination. There are so many moving elements to a war that you wouldn’t necessarily consider or depict in a book/movie. Well, Sanderson made sure to show us everything and it makes the story all the more fascinating.
What is also really important to the story is that the fighting feels realistic. Yes, there are some grand moments on the battlefield, but it’s very “Game of Thrones” in the sense that anything can happen and nobody is safe. Not everybody is going to make it out alive. And I don’t just mean unnamed soldier #257. So many things happen in this novel, it’s amazing!
I want to talk about a few things now that will definitely be spoilers for those who haven’t yet read any of the novels, so beware!
While I loved this book there are a couple of things I want to – not really criticize – but address. First of all, this one is probably my own fault, but because the series is so long, there are some small cogs that are turning, that move things in this final battle that I didn’t remember well. I’m saying it’s my fault because it took me a little over a year and a half to read these novels (I started the prequel on January 10th, 2022, and finished this book on September 3rd, 2023), and I read other things in between, so obviously it’s impossible to remember every detail. However, it’s definitely also in part due to the fact that somewhere in the middle Jordan’s books got boring which a) meant I wasn’t paying attention super well and b) it took me really long to get through those novels. So, when Demandred and the Sharans showed up for the final battle, I had no recollection whatsoever of the Sharans ever being mentioned before and only a vague grasp of who Demandred was. But again, this is not something that I can blame Sanderson for.
The epilogue in this felt more like just another chapter rather than an epilogue. It takes place right after the battle and we witness Rand’s funeral. Well, I would have loved an epilogue that takes place a bit after the events of the book, so we can see what the world looks like now. What are the Aiel up to now? Did Rand’s peace hold? How is the rebuilding going? Are new alliances made? What about the White Tower? Or the Black One? Are Elayne’s babes doing well? What about Malkier? Maybe Jordan didn’t leave any notes on this stuff and that’s why Sanderson ended the book the way he did, I don’t know.
As you can see, I have a lot of questions I would have loved an answer to. But it is what it is. Speaking of answers. I wish there had been more information on the Age of Legends. It gets mentioned here and there, they talk about some inventions at one point or the other, but we never get a full grasp of what this time looked like. I know that this is just me being super curious, but this is something I would have liked to read more about. You’d think that while doing so much world-building, Jordan would have found a couple more words to elaborate on this. But once more, this was not Sanderson’s job, and the final book definitely was not the place to talk about this.
